Even among his own party, Biden gets less than three out of four saying he is the better man for the job. When asked, 74 percent of Democrats said he was better prepared than Ryan, with 11 percent going for the man he is facing off against and 15 percent not knowing. Ryan scored with 81 percent of Republicans, with Biden getting just 9 percent.

Among independents, the two were tied at 36 percent with 28 percent saying they do not know.

Paradoxically, the older man scored better with younger voters. Biden, 69, could only muster support from one-in-three seniors, while Ryan, 42 scored 55 percent. But for likely voters under 40, Biden fared much better — 44 percent favoring him with just 32 percent going for Ryan.

Pollsters conducted the national survey of 1,000 likely voters over two days, starting Tuesday, the day that Biden infamously told a largely black audience in Virginia that Republican policies would “put y’all back in chains.”